EcoRise
EcoRise
EcoRise Expands Transformative Environmental Education to Middle School Educators in Rural Texas
For 3.1 million Texans who live outside a metropolitan area, educational and environmental challenges have been exacerbated by the lack of services and resources available to their urban counterparts. Rural schools struggle with outdated education facilities, lower teacher salaries, and teacher shortages while classrooms feel the impacts of social, racial, and political unrest. Environmental threats such as contaminated water, toxic emissions, hurricanes, and droughts often hit these rural communities harder. Rural challenges are even more pronounced in economically disadvantaged areas, often areas populated by racial and ethnic diversity.
A grant from All Points North Foundation to K–12 education nonprofit EcoRise will bring award-winning environmental education classroom resources and professional development to rural Texas middle school teachers. Teachers will receive training in EcoRise’s Sustainable Intelligence (S.I.) Program, equipping them with transformative tools to connect marginalized student communities to the important topics of climate, environmental justice, and STEM. The 163 lessons in both English and Spanish in the S.I. curriculum will help teachers guide their students to apply for microgrants from EcoRise’s Student Innovation Fund, activating them to become solutions-driven leaders making their schools and communities more sustainable.
Professional development (PD) experts will provide in-person and online PD, sharing best practices and ongoing support with educators. The grant will also support an Ambassador Program to help EcoRise teachers become master environmental educators and leaders in their own communities.
The EcoRise Environmental Education for Resilient Texas Communities (EERTC) launched as a pilot in 2018 to better determine whether its S.I. program would be helpful to rural communities. The response was decidedly positive, fueling the pilot’s quick growth. In 2023, the pilot served over 450 teachers at 227 schools across Texas, impacting over 25,000 students. The grant will enable EcoRise to boost capacity to 80 new middle school educators in historically underserved rural areas, supporting each community’s need to address the pressing environmental and social challenges they face.
This transformative education initiative is founded on the belief that education is the bedrock of social and environmental change and that teachers are the spark to reach youth at a critical juncture in their intellectual, social, and emotional development. Who says students can’t change the world?
For more information: www.ecorise.org
Photo credit: EcoRise
All Points North Foundation provides grants for U.S.-based projects and initiatives that support our priorities: improving public middle school education and teacher training, and implementing effective solar programs and/or projects.
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